Work Text:
fallen angel
“Alright, Gavriel,” said the instructor. “It’s time for you to take off!”
Gavriel, the child at only twenty five years, was preparing to take his first flight. His wings were curled in at the edges, a commonality his instructor saw in every angel’s first flight.
“You know what to do, Gav.” The older angel, his wings sparkling in the sunlight, put a hand on Gavriel’s shoulder and a wing comfortingly behind his. “I know you can do this.”
They were standing at the edge of a tower high in the sky, even above the realm they inhabited, for it couldn’t be the same plane as Earth. The humans would all freak if they saw winged people flying through the sky all the time.
Wind buffeted their faces as Gavriel took in a shaky breath and shook out his wings. “I can do this,” he said, more to himself than the instructor. Gavriel took three quick steps forward, the fourth launching him into the open air. His wings, still a little bit grey because of his youth, caught the air just right, keeping little Gavriel in the sky long enough to figure out how to use his wings properly.
Once he was steady in the air, the older angel called, “Incredible job, Gav! C’mon back in!”
Gavriel spun around a bit too fast, tripping over himself and faltering in the sky. Then, his longest feathers were intertwined and he was falling, falling out of the sky. The instructor, however, made quick work of bringing Gavriel back to the safety of the tower to continue his training.
Many years later, Gavriel just turned one hundred and seven—a young adult. He was hardly out of school, but he was beginning training to be a guardian angel now. “Are you ready, Gavriel?” A new instructor in a new tower.
Gavriel nodded in response, wings respectfully curled behind his back, hands clasped behind him as well, posture impeccably straight. “Yes, sir.”
“We like to through our students right into the deep end here,” the older angel explained. “I will be by your side, but you have to look out for Crimson for twelve hours on Earth.” Gavriel nodded again in acknowledgement before the instructor continued. “Basically, make sure she doesn’t die before her time.”
“How will I know if it’s her time?”
“In short—shadows tend to follow.” Gavriel processed this for a moment, committing it to memory, then nodded.
“Let’s get to Earth.”
The way to Earth from the angels’ realm was by touching a particularly blue stone in the Transportation Hallway. They would be pulled back after their allotted time.
They popped onto Earth right as a girl was leaving her brick house with a backpack on and keys in hand. There was almost a beacon of light around her when Gavriel looked at her. “Are humans supposed to glow like that?” he asked.
His instructor sighed. “No, Gavriel, that’s what the human you’re watching over looks like so you don’t lose her.” Gavriel hummed in acknowledgement and descended to the ground to walk behind her. “What are you doing?” The instructor was beside him, gliding through the air.
“She can’t see us, yeah?” Gavriel asked.
“Well, no, she can’t see us, but why in all the realms are you on the ground?”
“I’m supposed to be watching her. Keeping her safe.” The instructor nodded, still unwilling to land and walk alongside Crimson as Gavriel continued. “I can do that better if I’m close to her.”
Throughout the day, Gavriel sat in Crimson’s car on the way to university, and stood behind her seat during the lectures (he was positive that her professor was teaching them the wrong history of World War One, but Gav couldn’t do anything about it). Gavriel sat inside the coffee shop Crimson worked at after school and kept an eye on everything around her. He tried to pay no mind to the instructor watching his every move from above, still unwilling to set foot on Earth.
Crimson’s walk to her car after closing up shop was when things got…weird.
“Mirabel,” Gavriel called up to his instructor. “Are you seeing the shadows?”
“Only you can see Crimson’s light and shadows—she is in your care right now.”
“I think the shadows are starting to follow her.” Gavriel didn’t need to look to know that Mirabel was cringing from above. “Can I do anything?”
“No, you’re not supposed to interfere when the shadows start.”
Gavriel hummed. There was no way he could let this young girl die today. She was barely the same age as he was when he first flew! How could a life end before it even began?
Crimson hopped into her blue car, Gavriel getting into the passenger seat, and started driving. Her eyes appeared to be dripping as she drove and there were waves of emotion hitting Gavriel every few seconds.
Along the highway, Crimson seemed to have steeled herself enough to concentrate on the road. Gavriel was enjoying the short hour-long commute when Crimson jerked the wheel so hard her tires squealed. She swerved into the oncoming traffic!
More on instinct than anything else, Gavriel yanked the wheel, maneuvering the car back into the proper lane. His girl was crying again and starting to pull over onto the side of the road. Before he could see if Crimson had steadied herself for real this time, Gavriel was thrown back into the angel’s realm, materializing beside an already enraged Mirabel.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?” Her feathers were ruffled and her face was red.
“I just saved her!”
“You weren’t supposed to do that! If the shadows show up, you let them take her.”
“It wasn’t her time!” Gavriel protested.
“It was absolutely her time. You were supposed to watch and guard her, not save her when the shadows come!”
“What’s a guardian angel for if not to protect their charges when their in need?” Gavriel was livid. How could Mirabel expect him to let a human die when he was supposed to protect said human?
Mirabel thought for a fraction of a second before saying, “There will be massive repercussions for this.”
Gavriel felt his wings open, becoming more full and defensive. “Like what? A girl living another day?”
“Like being cast out.” Without another word, Mirabel furled her majestic wings and stalked away from a quickly deflating Gavriel.
“Gavriel of the House of Venus,” the judge said. “You are being charged with saving a human by the name of Crimson Hawthorne. How do you plead.”
There was no remorse in Gavriel’s voice as he stood below the judge and a court of regal angels, their wings all white as a dove’s. “Guilty.”
“Good.” The judge smashed a gavel, punctuating Gavriel’s phrase. “Your punishment is to be banished to Earth. You are no longer an angel.”
Gavriel hummed and nodded in response. He’d known this was happening.
“Your wings will nevermore catch the wind, but you will always have them as a reminder of your failure.”
Gavriel hummed again. He knew in his heart that this wasn’t a failure—just him being punished by a broken system.
“You may never return to this realm and will live out your live on Earth starting at the human age equivalent to your current age.” The court was silent as Gavriel and the angel assembly waited for the gavel to strike again. “You will start your banishment at age twenty five.”
There was the sound of the gavel, and then Gavriel was on Earth again, standing in the middle of the sidewalk with people streaming around him. As he opened his wings, they appeared grey and transparent, allowing people to pass through their once-magnificent plumage.
Walking a little ways down the street and into the first door he saw, Gavriel sat down in a little coffee shop, taking a seat at the table at the back.
She wasn’t glowing anymore that he could see, but Crimson was beaming a smile at him from behind the counter.